How Do You Spell Relief?

As I watched this morning’s news on ABC, I was delighted to see that the network was sponsoring a day-long relief effort for the victims of Superstorm Sandy.  So many millions of people remain without power and suffer through cold nights as befit November in the northeast.  There also has been a shortage of fuel and food.  It’s hard to watch people go without in this disaster.  At the same time, there have been so many challenges in transportation, especially when it comes to food and fuel.
           The partner nonprofit relief organization working with ABC has been the American Red Cross.  I was a board member of the Central Illinois Chapter as our region navigated the 1993 floods along the Mississippi River, and went into the area around Quincy, Illinois to help with flood relief.  I was working with the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, so I had the unexpected blessing of being fed by Red Cross as I helped to build a food storage pantry at the local Salvation Army.
            From that disaster, and other, smaller events like tornadoes in nearby communities, I saw the power of relief efforts.  I also had to come to grips with the strange reactions to requests for help on the donor and the recipient.  In Quincy, a regional grocery store donated canned goods from the warehouse.  Two semi-trailers arrived laden with many items—but many of them were dented or damaged.  The intent to help certainly was there—but to provide only those goods that were unable to be stocked on store shelves.  Aside from appearance, the cans had to be inspected for any accidental piercing.  I did find several, and had to discard them.
             I recall relief efforts after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  Some residents of our Chapter area gave $25.00 donations.  In return, the donors wanted a precise accounting that all of the money went to help someone—and they wanted thank you notes from notes from those people.
             Most people give in trust and faith that the funds move out of their control.  My wife and I have given to Red Cross for relief in Sandy’s wake with no expectation of any thank you notes.  We’re just glad to help.  There are so many other worthy groups, sacred and secular, who are doing specific outreach.  We’re glad that they are there.  Had things been just a little different, we could have sustained a lot of damage here in coastal Virginia—and we would have been in line for help while coming to terms with what we could have lost.
            Then my thoughts turn to the Cross.  There, Jesus Christ died, once for all, to reconcile us to God.  As St. Paul often says, there is nothing we could have done to deserve this divine intervention in and helping us to move out of the eternal disaster facing us in our human destiny.  Every day I give thanks for this amazing relief effort.  I spell relief, in practical ways, in A, American Red Cross or E, Episcopal Relief and Development.  But I spell spiritual relief in J-E-S-U-S-C-H-R-I-S-T and P-R-A-Y-E-R.